School is out, as Regan “Ring(s) the bell” on Collins; Bourbon rolls 64-39

The Titans had zero answers for the junior that finished with 24 points and 15 rebounds, with 10 of those coming on the offensive end

 

JARRETT VANMETER l jarrettvanmeter@gmail.com

 

PARIS, KY – Back-to-back games are part of the topography of a high school basketball season. They offer fresh challenges: problems that must be fixed, or momentum that must be perpetuated, without the aid of a practice.

The Bourbon County Lady Colonels basketball team played its first back-to-back of the 2024-2025 season this week and handled the task with ease, dispatching St. Patrick (71-34) on the road on Tuesday and Collins at home on Wednesday by a combined 62 points. While both games were blowout victories, they yielded disparate individual performances from Bourbon’s frontcourt duo of junior Regan Ring and senior Morgan Howell.

“Last night they both had a rough night,” Coach Kylie Hilander said of Tuesday’s game against St. Patrick. “They both got in foul trouble early, they couldn’t get going offensively because they were on and off the court. They had a really rough night last night. I think Morgan scored two and Regan scored three.”

Cue the Wednesday night reboot inside Russ Day Gymnasium. Ring exploded for 24 points and 15 rebounds (10 offensive) and Howell added 15 rebounds of her own to go along with a dozen points as Bourbon rolled to a 64-39 victory over visiting Collins. It would be Ring’s and Howell’s third double-double of the season.

In an effort to shore up her team’s propensity for early foul trouble, Hilander challenged her group to play with more poise and discipline on the defensive end against Collins. The team responded, giving up just three points to Collins in the first quarter.

Ring and Howell came alive offensively for the Lady Colonels in the second, but the Collins offense woke up as well and knocked home a buzzer-beating three as the half ended to keep the deficit at a manageable 28-22.

But the third quarter was the Regan Ring show. Six straight points by the junior in the early going of the period put Bourbon up 40-26. A Kendal Hardin three-pointer and a runner from senior Riley Hunt put the game out of reach for good. The Colonels cruised through the fourth quarter to polish off the 64-39 victory. It was Ring’s best game of the season, while the seventh grader Hardin, freshly off an 18 points, 9 rebounds performance during the win over St. Patrick, totaled 13 points, as she continues her early season hot play.

“She bounced back very well,” Hilander said of the junior’s recalibration from Tuesday to Wednesday. “Last night, she got a little frustrated but tonight she was poised. She got elbowed in the back one time and was stone-faced. That’s going to be huge for us, because if we want to compete in this region, and especially this district, we’ve got to have those two [Ring and Howell] on the floor.”

After Ring checked out with 3:15 remaining in the game, Bourbon got a boost from junior Makenzie Jolly, who scored six quick points in the game’s final moments to put the exclamation point on the victory.

“She’s been hurt, so this was her first game back for varsity,” Hilander said of Jolly. “She played a little bit of JV, but she’s kind of playing through some pain still, so we’re happy that she got out there and scored. She was in the right places and they found her and she was one hundred percent, three-for-three on her layups.”

Bourbon will have six days off to regroup before 10th Region contender Montgomery County comes to town on Tuesday, December 17. It will be the front end of another back-to-back, with Franklin County, ranked third in the state in several preseason poll, on the schedule for the following night.

“They can shoot the ball really well and have a lot more offensive threats than the teams we’ve played the last two nights,” Hilander said of Montgomery County. “WE have to take these next few practices and really prepare for that because it’s only going to get worse the next night with Franklin County.”